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I live in a beautiful pre-war (1926) apartment building in NYC, with plaster walls.

In my apartment there's a very small internal hallway that has a column that's showing the aftereffects of many cleaning ladies hitting it with a vacuum cleaner and movers being careless. The corners of it are full of chips.

I want to put on beautiful oak corner guards. I know where to get them, but I don't know how to install them. Any thoughts?

If using an oak corner trim, it would be a good idea to pre-drill the oak and the plaster, least you split the hard oak and shatter the plaster.

If the walls are nice and straight, I would consider glueing the piece with quick set, clear construction adhesive. Dry fit it first to see if it will sit flat to the wall. If you have to force it into place and it wants to spring up, you are probably better with the finishing nails. Pre-finishing the piece before you mount it will save you making a mess after the fact.